


Growing Pains

by ColorsofaYinYang



Series: dsmp fics [3]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Bittersweet, Crack Treated Seriously, Feels, Gen, Light Angst, Platonic Relationships, Skeppy's Love or Host, Spider Skeppy, feels a lot like growing pains
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-13 12:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,269
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29153535
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColorsofaYinYang/pseuds/ColorsofaYinYang
Summary: Spiders aren't meant to be kept in jars.
Relationships: BadBoyHalo & CaptainPuffy, BadBoyHalo & Skeppy
Series: dsmp fics [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2130342
Comments: 10
Kudos: 43





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This universe is Minecraft but mixed with real life I guess.
> 
> I would not suggest handling spiders irl :P

There’s a spider on the windowsill.

It’s a little grey-brown one, with slender limbs and beady black eyes. It watches Bad warily as he approaches, waving one of its little legs in the air as a warning when he crouches down to look at it. Bad smiles and tries not to frighten it away. He’s always liked bugs.

“Hello,” he coos. “You’re a cutie, aren’t you?” He knows for a fact that this species of spider isn’t venomous or dangerous to humans at all, so he reaches out and allows the spider to crawl onto his finger. It tickles the fine hairs on his knuckles as it hesitantly moves up to the back of his hand, perching there to look around curiously.

Bad reaches over with his other hand and grabs one of his empty jam jars, the ones with tiny holes already punched in the lids. He’s kept pill bugs and beetles before, and crickets he’s bought from the pet store, so he has some caretaking supplies lying around. He puts a layer of substrate at the bottom and arranges a few twigs and pebbles along the sides before carefully coaxing the spider inside. It scuttles in and hides under a dried-out leaf, only a bit of its leg peeking out.

He decides to name it Skeppy.

~

Skeppy’s jar stays on the upper shelf of Bad’s desk, away from any harsh sunlight or potential accidents. Every morning he’ll mist the top of the jar so a bit of moisture accumulates at the top for Skeppy to drink, and twice a day he’ll feed Skeppy with fruit flies he’s caught from the kitchen. The tiny spider seems comfortable in his new home. Bad’s ecstatic when he checks in one day to find the beginnings of a web being strung between two twigs.

Sometimes he’ll let Skeppy out so he can explore the desk, curiously climbing up the side of Bad’s pencil holder and happily hiding in the leaves of his succulent. He seems to really like the sparkly diamond pendant Bad had received as a birthday present a few years prior. Rat tries to hop onto the chair to look at him a lot but Bad keeps her away, not wanting anything to happen to either of them.

Between his job as a streamer and the stay at home order, the amount of human contact he’s had is at an all-time low. So he grows attached to Skeppy alarmingly quickly. When he’s tired of editing and staring at the screen all day he’ll tell Skeppy stories, sing to him, anything to pass the time. He makes sure the spider is healthy and happy, and well-taken care of. It might just be his imagination, but sometimes the way Skeppy waves his legs and tenderly rests on his hand, it almost feels like he understands what Bad is saying.

Still, he feels guilty about it. Spiders aren’t meant to be kept in jars. He knows it’s selfish to keep Skeppy. But some days the thought of Skeppy is the only thing that gets him out of bed. Male spiders are often eaten in the wild, anyways, so he’s only protecting Skeppy from all sorts of terrible fates, right?

It’s hard to rationalize it. But he needs Skeppy, and Skeppy… needs him. Probably. So he tells himself,  _ just a few more days. I’ll release him soon. Give me a few more days. _

~

He meets up with Puffy for the first time in a month and she inspects the jar with one raised eyebrow.

“You got another pet, Bad?” He shrugs and gives her a sheepish grin.

“Not really… I just found him on the windowsill and decided to keep him for a bit!” She makes to move the jar but he instinctively stops her by blocking her arm.

She chuckles and rolls her eyes, but stops reaching for it. “Protective, much?” Instead, she grabs the plastic grocery bag she had arrived with and hands it over to him. “Here, we can eat these while we catch up.”

Bad brews some tea and they chat over the kitchen table, nibbling on the muffins Puffy brought. There’s only a single lonely chair, so Bad resorts to perching on the kitchen counter while Puffy sits. They talk about their latest streams, and Puffy’s sheep farm, and by the time Puffy is pulling on her coat in the foyer they’re back on the topic of Skeppy.

“Animals don’t do well in jars, Bad,” Puffy murmurs reluctantly. There’s pity in her eyes. He sighs and drops his gaze.

“I know.” She pats his shoulder comfortingly. “It’s… hard to let go of something you really like, isn’t it?”

With the hand on his shoulder she pulls him in and hugs him. It’s warm and reassuring, a reminder that it’s not like he’s alone in the world. Even without Skeppy, he would have her and Rat, his other friends and a million fans all across the globe.

Still, it wouldn’t quite be the same.

He lingers in the hug for as long as possible before pulling away, and she smiles at him. “You’re a good person, Bad,” she tells him. “I know you’ll do what’s best for it. You always do, for the people you love.”

~

The human condition is a tragedy. Bad comes to terms with this over the course of his Thursday, watching a Portal playthrough in-between editing and walking Rat. It’s human nature to become attached to things that can’t become attached back. Chell does it with her Companion Cube. Bad does it with Skeppy.

He knows the spider isn’t really living his fullest life. He knows he’s to blame. And he knows that if you love someone very much, you have to be willing to let them go.

He loves Skeppy, very, very much. So much.

So Friday morning, he unscrews the lid and lets him go.

The spider seems almost hesitant, lingering at the rim of the jar and looking up at Bad with those wide black eyes. Bad gestures to the grass, the simple garden he’s been keeping in the cramped urban backyard. “Go on,” he encourages. Half of him is hoping that Skeppy doesn’t leave. But spiders don’t  _ choose _ humans, not in the way humans choose them. So he isn’t surprised when Skeppy scrambles out of the glass and onto a leaf, reveling in his newfound freedom.

He stands and re-caps the jar, careful not to disturb the tangle of weeds and twigs that the spider is currently crawling over. At his feet, Skeppy waves his tiny leg one last time, a grateful farewell. Bad smiles gently, turns, and leaves.

There must be something caught in his eye. Why else would there be moisture welling up in them?

He hums as he cleans out the jar, using a stick and paper towel to remove the remaining strands of silk clinging to its insides. There’s a hollow sense of loss in his chest, yet at the same time a feeling of satisfaction and contentment. After that, he makes breakfast, streams for a bit, does some chores, and peruses the internet for a bit.

By the time he goes to bed, he’s accepted the empty space on the top shelf of his desk. He turns out the lights and goes to sleep feeling warmer than he has in a long time.

Who knows? Maybe come Monday, Skeppy will grace his windowsill once more.


	2. spider skeppy fanart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So Octoplasm made fanart...

This is so far removed from the vibe of this fic but it gave me such a good laugh XD

Spider Skeppy by Octoplasm

Thank you so much for this gift.

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't even watch Skeppy's LOH but the scraps I gathered on Twitter hit me hard, plus an offhand comment about spider Skeppy on discord and my need for Skephalo... yeah, this fic was inevitable.
> 
> I've found a lot of growing up is learning to let go, whether that means letting go of grudges or letting go of other things. It's the same feeling that parents feel when they send their kids off to college. This is just me projecting onto Bad and Skeppy's relationship, obviously, I don't know them personally. I just feel like in the context of clingy relationships, learning to let go and having people come back to you anyways is the ultimate form of trust and love, whether platonic or not.


End file.
